NBL23 Review: Cairns Taipans

Monday, April 3, 2023

The general consensus was it was going to be a season of re-establishment as a competitive unit for Cairns.

With the NBL23 season in the books and Free Agency officially opened, the time to review the season is now.

From bottom to top, NBL Media will be running through each side’s most recent campaign and assess the good, the bad, the ugly, and the upcoming off-season.

Not much was expected of the Cairns Taipans heading into NBL23. They'd made some strong signings off the back of a difficult two seasons, but the general consensus was it was going to be a season of re-establishment as a competitive unit.

They did that and more.

After sparking out the blocks with a pair of convincing wins, a heavy loss to Perth brought Cairns coming back down to earth. A win the following week over Sydney established them as a genuine threat to the rest of the competition.

A top-two place beckoned for much of the season, but in the end the Taipans sunk to third courtesy of a fast-finishing Breakers side.

The Good – The bounce back to the top
Despite the introduction of three new key players in the form of Sam Waardenburg, DJ Hogg and Shannon Scott, the Cairns Taipans entered the NBL23 season with a largely similar core group to the team that finished ninth in NBL22.

That’s what made their surge up the table so incredible.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Who can stop DJ Hogg right now? ?<br><br>Watch the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBLFinals?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBLFinals</a> Live & free on ESPN via Kayo Freebies ? <a href="https://t.co/wH6yHR8ZOI">pic.twitter.com/wH6yHR8ZOI</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1625780446037676032?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 15, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Keanu Pinder and Tahjere McCall now had the pieces around them to help carry the team to the next level. So good were Bul Kuol and Scott in fact, that McCall spent large parts of the season coming off the bench – an idea that would have been laughed out of the room at any point during NBL22.

The exciting, up-tempo and borderline chaotic style of basketball Cairns played was not only entertaining to watch, but it suited their core of young, swaggering talent down to the last player.

The fact they matched up with the Sydney Kings and former player Kouat Noi in the Playoff Series was poetic, and although it was the Kings who emerged victorious in three games, the Taipans sent a message to the rest of the competition.

After a pair of seasons languishing in the depths of the ladder, they’re back.

The Bad – Late game fadeouts
Those games that go down to the wire can make or break a season and, unfortunately for the Taipans, they prevented them from potentially taking second spot on the ladder come the end of the regular season.

Of its 10 losses in NBL regular season, Cairns lost six games by less than ten points. Of those six losses, they were outscored in the final quarter five times.

The one exception was their late rally against Melbourne United in late December, where the Taipans outscored the home side by five points in the final stanza en route to a three-point defeat.

Two of these tight losses came against Adelaide, while one each came against the Phoenix, JackJumpers and Kings – with their defeat to the Kings famously finishing on a birthday buzzer-beater from their former player Kouat Noi.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">??? FORMER TAIPAN, BIRTHDAY BOY KING KOUAT NOI WINS THE GAME FOR SYDNEY ??? <a href="https://t.co/iS6YmATxCy">pic.twitter.com/iS6YmATxCy</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1586314636579655680?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 29, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

That final quarter issue reared its ugly head once again in the decisive Game 3 of the Playoff series against the Kings.

Sydney led by four points heading into the final quarter and the Taipans had momentum.

Disaster struck though as Cairns was restricted to just six points in the final quarter, and ended their season on the wrong side of a 15-point loss.

The Ugly – The late-season injury rush
Injuries to three of Cairns’ star players came at the worst possible time for the Taipans. An eye injury kept Keanu Pinder out of the late season scramble, while neither Shannon Scott nor Tahjere McCall were playing at 100 per cent effectiveness throughout the finals.

Tahjere McCall courageously returned from a partially dislocated shoulder for the final two games of the Playoff Series against Sydney, however Shannon Scott missed the same two games with a hamstring issue – all while Pinder sat sidelined, sporting a nasty black eye from late January.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Keanu Pinder has been taken straight into the changerooms following a stray elbow to the face late in the third quarter. <a href="https://t.co/w5mcAmSgDo">pic.twitter.com/w5mcAmSgDo</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1618192464304820228?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 25, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Every team that doesn’t win the championship enters the off-season with a whole string of ‘what if?’ thoughts. For Cairns though, their claim to have been shafted by uncontrollable factors is stronger than most.

The Off-Season – Keeping as many pieces as possible
DJ Hogg, Shannon Scott, Bul Kuol. What do they all have in common apart from the fact they’re all stellar players?

They’re all out of contract.

Then there's Keanu Pinder, who has already departed, signing with the Perth Wildcats in the last 24 hours.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">BACK TO BACK ?<br><br>Keanu Pinder continues to excel, winning the Most Improved Player Award for the second consecutive year after another remarkable season with the <a href="https://twitter.com/CairnsTaipans?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CairnsTaipans</a> ?<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TheGazeys?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TheGazeys</a> live on ESPN + the NBL social channels <a href="https://t.co/7gZjFgA5KJ">pic.twitter.com/7gZjFgA5KJ</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1622892120754520064?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 7, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Aside from Tahjere McCall and Sam Waardenburg, the core of Cairns’ best players are all up for contract renewal, and it’s expected that Hogg and Kuol will gain immense amount of interests both within the NBL and internationally.

Retaining McCall and Waardenburg – along with young talent Lat Mayen – has laid the foundation for the side to potentially run it back, but it looks like it will be almost totally beyond the realms of comprehension that all four stars will return.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The 2023 Awards begin... ? <br><br>An early drop, with DJ Hogg and Keanu Pinder named to the All-NBL Second Team! ?? <a href="https://t.co/nURBxqbrwW">pic.twitter.com/nURBxqbrwW</a></p>— Cairns Taipans (@CairnsTaipans) <a href="https://twitter.com/CairnsTaipans/status/1622886034194452482?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 7, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Hogg’s abilities are well accounted for overseas, and was part of the NBA G-League champion Lakeland Magic in 2021.

Cairns nailed all their key signings heading into NBL23, and with one star already gone, can they do it again?